U.S. Steps Up Efforts to Curb Lawlessness Across Iraq; Cache of Suicide-Bomb Vests Found in Baghdad
By David Crary
Associated Press Writer
Apr 12, 2003
As looting persisted Saturday across Iraq, U.S. officials said they will send 1,200 police and judicial officers to help restore order. U.S. commanders indicated the last major military challenge, taking Saddam Hussein's hometown, may be easier than expected thanks to desertions and relentless bombing.
Troops remained focused on erasing military threats instead of curbing lawlessness. In Baghdad, U.S. Marines showed reporters a cache of about 50 explosives-laden suicide bomb vests in an elementary school less than 20 feet from the nearest home.
At a nearby junior high school, seven classrooms were filled with hundreds of crates of grenade launchers, surface-to-air missiles and ammunition. Residents said Iraqi soldiers and militiamen had positioned weaponry throughout the neighborhood before U.S. forces moved in.
"We didn't imagine this much stuff here," said Lt. David Wright, of Goldsboro, N.C. "Every 200 meters we find something."
Searching for weapons, and for holdout bands of pro-Saddam fighters, has been the primary task of many of the American troops in Baghdad. But U.S. officials, criticized for doing too little to curtail the looting, say the restoration of law and order will become a higher priority.
The State Department said it is sending 26 police and judicial officers to Iraq, the first component of a team that will eventually number about 1,200. The officers will be part of a group led by Jay Garner, the retired general chosen by the Bush administration to run the initial Iraqi civil administration under American occupation.
Much of the looting in Baghdad and other cities has targeted government ministries and the homes of former regime leaders, but looters also have ransacked foreign embassies, stolen ambulances from hospitals and robbed some private businesses.
U.S. forces reopened two strategic bridges Saturday in the heart of Baghdad - enabling looters to pillage new territory. U.S. forces watched as plunderers swarmed into several government buildings, including the Planning Ministry on the west bank of the Tigris River, and emerged with bookshelves, sofas and computers.
Aid organizations, as well as many Baghdad residents, have pleaded with U.S. officials to crack down on the looting.
"The humanitarian situation is worsening as a consequence of widespread lawlessness," said InterAction, a Washington-based coalition of more than 160 U.S. aid groups. Iraq-based relief workers with CARE reported that hospitals are "in absolutely dire straits," with some looted and others closed to prevent looting.
Looting diminished Saturday in the northern city of Mosul, a day after pro-Saddam defense forces dissolved and U.S. special forces moved in. The special forces were joined Saturday by a two-dozen-vehicle Army convoy that was greeted by thousands of cheering Iraqis.
Officials at the Pentagon have specific concerns about one aspect of the looting - that vandalism of government offices could destroy evidence related to weapons of mass destruction.
Finding chemical and biological weapons manufactured by Saddam's regime is a top priority for the U.S.-led forces. Troops are seeking documents and Iraqi weapons experts in hopes of getting leads on where banned materials might be.
"We have offered two things," said U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "One is financial rewards. And we've also said that if people have spotty backgrounds, assisting us might make their futures brighter."
In western Iraq, U.S. troops seized control of crossings on two highways leading into Syria. There was tough resistance near Qaim, on the Syrian border, raising speculation that the town might be site for illegal weapons.
Next, the U.S.-led coalition is expected to focus on Saddam's hometown, Tikrit, where some Iraqi forces are believed to be regrouping. However, the U.S. Central Command officials said many of the troops there have fled in the face of heavy airstrikes, and the remnants may not be able to muster an effective defense.
Tikrit, 90 miles northwest of Baghdad, has long been a power center for Iraq's Sunni Muslim tribes, who may plan to resist as long as possible out of fear of losing power to the Shiite Muslim majority. Saddam drew many members of his inner circle from Tikrit, and built several fortified palaces and military installations there.
Russia, France and Germany - all opposed to the war in the first place - continued to oppose what they view as a U.S. effort to dominate the rebuilding process. They maintain that a U.N-led effort would have a better chance of establishing lasting peace in Iraq.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Friday in St. Petersburg, Russia, with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to discuss Iraq. Putin said the war has undermined the concept of national sovereignty, while Schroeder said the United Nations should take charge of postwar reconstruction.
Next week, a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be briefed by the Bush administration on its plans for postwar Iraq. The U.N. said Rafeeuddin Ahmed was invited for briefings by the State Department, Defense Department and National Security Council on Monday.
Annan contends that only the United Nations can bring legitimacy to the work of rebuilding Iraq. The Bush administration says the U.S.-led coalition will take the lead in running and rebuilding the country.
AP-ES-04-12-03 0323EDT
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